Nearly a month after the Ozark County Sheriff’s Office issued an emergency action order, the state of the budget and inflation have forced the local agency to make another move. Sheriff Cass Martin says increasing expenditures and sales tax revenue far below projection have resulted in seven layoffs, including two full-time deputies, to downsize his staff.
The emergency action issued in July stated the sheriff’s office would not seek traffic violations, and only calls of violent misdemeanor and felony offenses would be answered. According to the Ozark County Times, the newest announcement came Monday morning after Ozark County Prosecuting Attorney Matt Weatherman addressed the county commissioners and asked them if it was time to put a law enforcement sales tax increase on the ballot. Presiding Commissioner John Turner reportedly then asked the sheriff the same question, and Martin answered in the affirmative. Weatherman then told commissioners the sheriff’s office had to reduce its workforce by 30 percent the week before.
The Ozark County Sheriff’s Office is currently funded, almost exclusively, by a half-cent sales tax bringing in usually around $400,000 to $425,000 annually. Ozark County Clerk Brian Wise said that wasn’t anywhere near enough to fund the office, although it does receive revenue from law enforcement contracts with Gainesville and Theodosia and sporadic revenue from the state of Missouri for prisoner cost reimbursements. Turner said the state is not quick to reimburse for prisoner per diem, and most of the time, they don’t pay the amount they are supposed to.
The newspaper reports the Missouri State Highway Patrol has increased its coverage on the eastern and western sides of the county at the request of Martin due to the budget crisis.
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